What Is Christmas To You?
by Necropolis demon
Summary: Seto Kaiba hates Christmas, and yet nobody gets it! Pissed at everyone's stupidity, he runs off from the classroom during a freak snow storm and finds himself rescuing a certain whiteblond who got locked out in the snow. KaibaxRyou oneshot


Necropolis demon

Disclaimer: I don't own YuGiOh or any of the anime characters to be mentioned in this fanfic.

Necro: A spur of the moment Christmas one-shot fic from yours truly, me, because I was bored and realized that Christmas plot bunnies were invading my brain. For you guys, here's my first ever one-shot…not a very good one.

**What is Christmas to You?**

Only two weeks of school until Winter break and everyone at Domino High was surely pumped up with excitement. Friends had already started discussing their plans for their respective vacation trips and not a single student was left untouched by the spirit of Christmas. It truly seemed as if the whole world was caught in a swirl of frosty, frosty fun…

Not.

Seto Kaiba, CEO of KaibaCorp, top notch student of the class…was pissed although he didn't show it.

Basically, the famous Seto Kaiba was not the type to go on ranting out loud about how Christmas sucked, he was more of the 'I ain't wasting my breath to bitch about this season' type of a person, the type who would rather lock himself in a dark room glaring at Christmas specials on TV rather than go outside and make snowmen like a normal person.

Oh heavens no, Seto Kaiba was not the Christmasy type of guy…he'd kill a reindeer if it wasn't illegal.

Seto Kaiba personally didn't have a reason to hate the season –yeah right-…he just hated the annoying carols…

And the bright lights.

And the colorfully-wrapped gifts.

And that damn chaotic Christmas shopping.

Ok, so he DID hate the season's cheer-filled atmosphere, big whoop.

Right now, one more thing he hated about Christmas was staring mockingly at him…Santa Clause.

The sudden heavy snow and even heavier traffic had forced the students of Domino High to stay within school building. The biggest unpredicted snowstorm in Japan's twenty-years had hit Domino city. Not a single student was allowed to leave the premises because of the dangerous weather, the outside world was a virtual battle field with nature that not even their ruthless gym teacher could get through, this they knew because said gym teacher had stupidly attempted to go outside, the guy came back in less than five minutes with practically frozen blood in his nostrils and one hell of headache. The winds were blowing non-stop, phone lines and cell phones were down, the electricity was out so everyone was relying on the emergency lights, and everyone was stuck in school because of the threat of freezing to death.

But back on the Santa Clause thing, while everyone else was slightly worrying, others panicking but surprisingly some were having fun, about their current locked-in situation, Yugi was being all Christmas joy-ish with his big bag of Christmas cards, and was handing them to everyone, even to Seto Kaiba.

Santa Clause was staring mockingly at Seto Kaiba…scratch that, a Christmas card with a picture of a jolly and commercialized Santa was staring mockingly at Seto Kaiba, directly less than 3 inches from his face.

"Here Kaiba! You get a card too!" said Yugi, the vertically challenged rival of the pissed off reindeer-hater. Just like any well-behaved student, Kaiba had been in his seat quietly doing his homework in advance while his classmates were huddled up in groups with their friends like normal teenagers. Yugi saw how 'lonely' Kaiba was and decided to cheer up the said lonely classmate by giving the guy a card.

Seto Kaiba did NOT like Santa Clause, thus he ignited a perfectly intimidating glare at the charitable midget-boy to be followed by a well formulated threat that would result to the poor kid's crying.

"Get that cheaply printed piece of crap out of my face Yugi and leave me alone before I take that bag of cards you've got, shove you in it, and chuck you out the window so you can freeze your sorry ass off." said Kaiba, eliciting beads of unshed tears from the innocent Yugi.

"Hey that was just cold Kaiba! Yugi was only trying to be nice, couldn't you have at least had the courtesy to accept a card without insulting him?" came Tea's scolding voice.

"Shut up, I don't need to hear you screeching one of your idiotic friendship speeches at me today, so just get lost!"

"What the hell is wrong with you moneybags? You're grumpier than usual." This time it was the fiery blond Joey who spoke.

"Would it have hurt you to accept the card politely and greet 'Merry Christmas' to anyone?" said Tristan.

"Yeah, who stuck a candy cane up your-"

"ENOUGH!" at this sudden angry yell from the usually composed CEO that seemed to echo rage throughout the whole classroom, everyone turned to look at him in muted shock and fear. The classroom remained silent as Kaiba shuffled around to calmly collect his school things. His footsteps sounded monotonously as he walked towards the door with his briefcase in one hand. With a final glare at the stunned teenagers in the room, Kaiba closed the sliding door and made his way down the hall.

When finally the stunned silence passed, Joey resumed talking albeit a little quieter than before, "What was his problem? It was just a card. He seemed really pissed at all of us, well, more pissed than his usual arrogant self."

Yugi blinked uncertainly, "Maybe…he just really hates Hallmark cards…"

* * *

Snow…was probably Ryou Bakura's worst enemy, not because it was cold to the skin, not because it gets you all soggy and wet when it melts, but because it was white.

He didn't really have anything against the white stuff, just that it was white, white as his hair…

This led him to his current predicament.

For the past few minutes, Ryou has been clutching his stomach in pain while lying on the cold snow outside the school building where the back entrance was at. Apparently he'd been bullied by a group of seniors who thought of how his hair freakishly matched the snow and how funny it would be if he was out in the snow where he was virtually invisible.

Those bullies didn't know how badly they'd knocked the wind out of the poor pale-haired teen, Ryou couldn't even stand because his limbs felt numb from the cold AND from being beaten up.

All he could do now, as piles of snow continued to rain upon him, was ignore the coarseness of his voice and yell for help that was less likely to come.

"Someone? Anyone. Help! Please…" he tried to shout but his cries ended up broken by the pain in his throat.

No one would come, he knew, the snow and the winds were overpowering any sound he tried to make, his uniform wasn't so visible because it was covered in snow now, there was practically no chance of someone finding him before he froze to death…why did he seem so calm about this?

Must be the cold attacking his brain…brain-freeze?

What a merry Christmas indeed…

At first it sounded like a ghostly whisper in his ear or perhaps a figment of his imagination due to the sudden drop of temperature in that particular corridor, but Kaiba knew that what he heard was real and that he couldn't have possibly imagined it. He was all alone in the ground floor where the halls were dark and empty because everyone was huddled upstairs so the teachers could check for attendance. The weather outside was worsening, Kaiba noticed, since the freezing atmosphere relatively increased its frostiness, and from the view outside the window he didn't think it would let up. But even in these conditions, Kaiba knew he wasn't just hearing things in his head. The sound was growing more distinct and clear as he continued his path downstairs towards the cafeteria and through the corridors that would eventually lead him to the school's back entrance where meat trucks unloaded the school cafeteria's frozen meat supply every now and then.

Things were obscure when he made a turn towards the backdoor, the power-outage was still in effect and he couldn't possibly imagine anyone stupid enough, excluding himself of course, to be lurking around the empty and freezing hall. But then that sound came again, this time it was clearer and even more haunting, sounding terrified and yet weakening.

Someone was desperately asking for help.

Kaiba glared at the backdoor in his line of sight, knowing full well that some idiot was probably outside freezing their ass off because they locked themselves out or something. Vaguely, Kaiba pondered if it was that freaky lunch lady with the mole and those unhygienic tendencies or a certain overly buffed gym teacher who thought it would be nice to try going outside AGAIN, he didn't know which of the pair to hope for since he hated both equally.

With a less than dramatic twist of a knob, Kaiba opened the door, thankful that he was wearing winter gloves, to reveal not what was expected but what he hadn't thought he would dread so much.

Blue eyes widened in alarm at the sight of the familiar classmate lying on the ground looking pitiful and dying in the cold, body buried in deep snow and hazel eyes looking up wearily at the unexpected savior only to close once more to succumb to weakness.

Seto Kaiba just found another reason to hate Christmas even more.

* * *

The first thing Ryou noticed before opening his eyes was that he wasn't feeling so cold anymore. Snow was absent and although his clothes were kind of damp, he was feeling fine…somewhat. Hazel eyes opened carefully, thankful for the sight of an unlit hall rather than that locked door he had been staring so desperately before. The floor was way too cool for his skin but the bearable temperature in the air made up for it. He was currently squatting on the floor, feeling surprisingly warm for someone who was recently out in a blizzard.

So warm…he could just curl into himself and cuddle the warm arms around him…

Wait…

…ARMS?!

A small 'eeep' escaped Ryou's lips as his eyes fluttered open, before he knew it he realized that he was in the arms of some guy. Oh he KNEW it was a guy, the stranger's chest, which his head was currently laid upon, was firm and FLAT. The strong arms around him were covered in long blue sleeves, which were the required school uniform of males. Thighs pressed securely against Ryou's sides, allowing the unfamiliar body to wrap around him quite nicely, perfect for Ryou-molesting.

Out of the snow and into the arms of some psycho…crud.

He didn't dare look up to meet the face of the unknown 'pervert'…Was it that guy from the other class whom he once pissed off by spilling soda on the guy's clothes? Or that basketball player from gym who he swore was checking him out that one time… It could be some older stalker he didn't know about…

What if it was?! Nooo! He was too young to be the victim of some freaky pedophile out to get innocent high school boys with girly hair…! Wait…that didn't sound right…the guy was in uniform so he HAD to be a student. And since when did he start labeling himself as girly?

The cold must've caused brain-damage…

Apparently, the miserable teen was whimpering quite obviously while he was buried in his worries. His 'stalker' had noticed this and spoke in a dangerously threatening voice.

"Tell anyone about this and I assure you you'd wish you were back outside."

Gulp…that sounded WAY too serious…Whose voice was that? It was kind of familiar but from where exactly?

"Uh-umm… D-do, do I know you?" shakily, Ryou inquired, still not looking up …he might as well ask who his assailant was.

"…Indirectly." Oh yeah…great answer, REALLY helpful.

On the outside, Ryou looked as if he had calmed down, but inside he was screaming bloody murder. Surely grape soda didn't cause that one guy's shirt too much damage, and it wasn't entirely his fault that he managed to foul that basketball player, heck HE was the one who got the nosebleed and trip to the nurse's office!

Various scenarios flooded Ryou's mind pretty quickly and soon he was back to being reduced to a trembling teen.

"What are you shaking about this time?" the stranger's voice came up once again. When there was no answer, the man got even more annoyed.

"Hey!"

"Pleasedon'thurtme!" was what quickly came out of Ryou's mouth.

A brow rose in confusion at the line, "I won't, what gave you that idea?" Kaiba replied, sounding mocking and, although he wouldn't admit it, amused with the jumpy classmate.

Surprised at the other's reply, Ryou instinctively looked up to see his savior's face. He was, without a doubt, even more surprised to discover that the supposedly uncaring Seto Kaiba was in fact the one who had saved him all this time.

He took a closer look at the CEO, who was looking out at the window across them, as if trying to see if the guy was truly his classmate, he just couldn't believe it. Kaiba suddenly looked down at his charge, causing the said charge to flinch at their sudden eye-contact; who knew a simple glare could send an electric shock to your spine?

"Did you…were you the one who found me?" Ryou asked, not breaking their line of sight.

"…yes." Kaiba replied monotonously.

A smile made its way to Ryou's face, and he could feel warmth flooding towards his cheeks, causing him to slightly flush in gratitude.

"Thank you."

"…"

There was no reply, Ryou didn't actually expect one anyways, this WAS Seto Kaiba after all.

"What the hell were you doing outside in that snow storm Bakura?" the blunt questioning came out unexpectedly from Kaiba who was now intently watching the other teen.

"I…" before Ryou could finish, Kaiba's eyes averted towards the injury on Ryou's cheek, which he hadn't noticed before because of the lack of light in the hall.

Without warning, the CEO touched the bruise, eliciting a yelp of pain from the white-blonde, "You got bullied," he stated frankly, eyes darkening at the fact.

Silence was all Ryou gave, he really didn't want to admit that a bunch of pupils had beaten the life out of him and had left him out in the cold to see how the way his hair blended with snow was so 'amusing', it was a pretty stupid reason…but he didn't want anymore complications, his teachers would start fussing and so on and so forth…it was all just too bothersome.

"You could sue your assailants you know, for attempted murder and physical abuse."

"N-no! It-it wasn't like they WANTED to kill me…they just…went overboard this time." This was true.

"This time?"

GREAT! Just what he needed, a full out interrogation of how pathetic he was.

"Hn, I take it that this happens often."

Something in the way Kaiba spoke so surely and boldly ignited some tinge of frustration in Ryou, it was as if the CEO was trying to rub it in, "Yes! It does! It does happen quite often mind you. Could we please stop talking about this?" replied Ryou, angrily in fact.

Ok…Ryou knew that his reaction was a bit selfish…but it worked, after that little burst Kaiba spoke no further and kept quiet for the rest of the time they sat there, sharing body heat…

…to help warm him warm up

…because he had been freezing

…to point of certain death

Oh Ra…he sounded SO ungrateful!

And here comes the guilt. "Sorry," Ryou whispered an apology, "That was…rude of me, you saved my life and in return…I just…blew things out of proportion…that's just not right, sorry."

There was an eerie quiet after that apology, a silence that seemed to stretch out across the hall emanating nothing but an air of awkward contemplation between the two males. Pale cheeks blushed in profuse embarrassment…such an unthankful action had not been intended. At the thought of not being forgiven, Ryou felt a stroke of hurt to his being, not able to cope with his behavior towards the man who saved his life…

"You are forgiven." Out of the blue, Kaiba's voice sounded, deep, serious, and truthful, relieving the white-blonde's conscience.

* * *

"Hey…has anybody seen Ryou Bakura?" a teacher asked a group of students who were passing out blankets taken from the nurse's office though there wasn't enough for everyone. The teacher, who was the class adviser, was currently re-checking on her students, making sure that her entire class was in the classroom.

"No…we haven't seen him…" a female pupil replied. The sudden discovery that a student was missing struck fear to the teacher, immediately she rushed towards the other teachers who were gathered outside her classroom, reporting the missing student.

"Seto Kaiba's missing as well!" another pupil spoke up, leading to more panic amongst the faculty. Yugi's group overheard the teachers' conversation and began to worry as well.

"All right everyone!" the school principal bellowed, standing on top of the teacher's desk by the chalkboard to get everyone's attention, "It has come to my attention that two students have not been accounted for, does anyone, anyone at all, know where Mr. Seto Kaiba and Mr. Ryou Bakura are?" receiving nothing but choruses of 'haven't seen them sir' and 'nope', the principal all-out panicked; what would the media say if they found the CEO of KaibaCorp dead due to the school's insubordination?

Students began to talk but were immediately hushed when one student stood up amidst the crowd of squatting students. "Sir, Kaiba was here about an hour ago." said Tea.

"Yeah, I think he was doing his homework or something, but we all saw him here a while ago…he left the classroom and never came back." Tristan added.

"I saw Ryou earlier. He headed to the cafeteria to check if we could get some food since I was real hungry…that was more than an hour ago though, around the time when this damn blizzard started getting serious." Joey followed.

A chaos of talking ensued as soon as the information sunk in, only to be shushed once more by the strict principal. "I will need four teachers and a few selected students to accompany me in a search for the missing students." At this, Yugi's group quickly raised their hands to volunteer, Ryou was their friend they just could leave him missing, and as for Kaiba…well, they DID drive him out of the classroom.

* * *

"Is it just me or is the air getting colder here?" Ryou asked as he shivered despite the gloves Kaiba had given to him.

The air was growing colder; Kaiba suspected an open window somewhere was the cause. "It would probably be best if we returned upstairs to where the other students are at." With that he released his secure hold on Ryou and stood up, momentarily grinding his teeth at the sudden loss of body heat he had been sharing with the other teen. Ryou shivered too at the loss of warmth as he pushed himself up in an attempt to stand, his knees buckled though due to the remaining numbness from the cold he had endured outside.

"Can you walk properly?" Kaiba asked, looking back at the struggling classmate.

"My legs still feel a bit numb from the cold…but I think I can manage to keep up-" on cue, he fell forwards, right into the other teen's arms, "-or not." He lamely added.

Sighing at the newly presented dilemma, Kaiba steadied his classmate and placed Ryou's arm over his right shoulder so Ryou could use him as support as they walked.

"Thanks again," Ryou muttered, receiving nothing from his rescuer.

Slowly, the pair made their way to the other end of the corridor, their frosty breaths turning visible as the temperature went down even more.

After walking for a while and making their way upstairs, they eventually found themselves on the second floor where the emergency lights were on and the air wasn't as frigid due to the insulation upstairs that must've leaked downwards.

They were pretty much quiet as they walked; Ryou thought this was awkward so he hummed a nice tune to break the frigid stillness. Kaiba visibly frowned, the humming was annoying him in the slightest bit; it was a Christmas song too.

"Stop it." He said with a scowl. They had paused momentarily as Kaiba looked straight at his classmate with a threatening look that clearly showed his discomfort.

Ryou was taken back, all he did was hum 'Jingle Bells' to himself, he most definitely did not expect such hostility from the CEO. "Sorry, but you don't have to glare at me though." He said rather boldly on impulse, why he did such a thing was beyond him.

The response stirred something within the CEO, "Just drop the Christmas-thing, I've had enough for today, I don't need any more." This was said in annoyance.

Gears turned in Ryou's head, "Do you hate Christmas or something?" he asked.

For a moment, Kaiba just looked at his charge strangely as if the guy was some idiotic employee of his that had just managed a fluke that appeased him; finally, someone got it!

"Yes, I do hate Christmas, what's it to you?"

"Well…I was just wondering what YOUR excuse was." Ryou replied…challengingly?

At the idea of being challenged, Kaiba replied hotly, "Annoying carols, prissy Christmas specials, traffic everywhere, the snow…should I continue?"

"Those things ARE annoying, but I don't think that's your excuse." The white-blond dared.

Amused though not showing it, Kaiba continued to converse with the classmate as they resumed making their way towards wherever they were subconsciously headed for. "And you? You sound like you hate it too. What's YOUR excuse for hating Christmas?"

A sad smile was what Kaiba received as a reply from the other teen, "it's too happy for my taste." The limping teen spoke, "families setting up the tree…kids rushing downstairs at Christmas morning…" at this he drifted to silent contemplation.

Truth be told, Seto Kaiba virtually knew nothing about Ryou Bakura, only that the other teen was a duelist and a friend of Yugi's. Actually, from all of Yugi's friends, it was only Ryou who wouldn't annoy the hell out of him; Ryou was the only one who seemed like a perfectly competent being. Now that he thought about it, it made sense that they both shared a mutual dislike for the snow-filled season of cheer and merriment as they were both loners of the season in a sense.

He knew that Ryou Bakura lived alone, it was after all common knowledge to their class, but what puzzled him was the fact that the said teen managed to smile at everything be it of pain or discontent.

"Santa Clause, do you believe in that?" he said somewhat sadly, his usually guarded expression slightly lifted into a miserable reminiscence.

Ryou smiled at such fond memories, "I used to…I remember leaving cookies and milk by the fireplace back when I was 7, in the morning they would all be gone and inside my Christmas stocking would be a ton of chocolates and candy-canes…there would be another new brightly wrapped gift under the Christmas tree amongst others waiting for me that would make me smile when I opened it and found exactly what I wanted for Christmas.

I remember sitting on father's lap as he made up stories about reindeers and sleighs and Santa's adventures…I knew they were all probably lies but…I always ended up staying up late at night in hopes of hearing that magical sleigh landing on the roof and that jolly man with a beard making his way down the chimney to drop off my present…"

"I guess I forgot how Christmas is celebrated." Said Kaiba, tone monotonous and yet seemingly tinged with longing, Ryou watched him as he spoke bit by bit, "Hearing you talk about it…seems…to make it appealing, but I hate it nonetheless."

"Celebrating Christmas IS an appealing idea isn't it? I bet you're the type of person who always puts off putting up a Christmas tree, the type of person who buys gifts even though you really don't get the thought of it just so you could put up an act of being in tune with the holiday spirit." said Ryou, receiving a look of understanding from Kaiba silently urging him to continue.

"But to people like us…the holidays are dead aren't they?" he added sadly. Kaiba nodded briefly.

"I guess…people like us hate Christmas because…somehow we can't experience the joy of it as others do." With that, Ryou gave a smile, his eyes betraying that said smile.

"…Every year, Mokuba tries to convince me to spend our Christmas vacation at a Ski resort. He says that it would be nice to hang around with other people during Christmas instead of staying at home, opening gifts from a bunch of kiss ups from work."

"Did you two ever go?" asked Ryou.

"Not once. I never felt like going…that or something from work needed to be taken care of." replied the CEO.

"Didn't want to see happy families at the Ski resort exchanging gifts or wearing matching hand-made sweaters or calling other relatives to greet 'Merry Christmas'?" this accusation was received with an intense glare courtesy of Kaiba.

"Now don't be like that, you and I know that it's the truth…" Ryou administered, "besides, it's a perfectly normal reaction to not want to see others happy while we, ourselves, are miserably out of place."

"I just think it's annoying, seeing people so worked up for such a trivial thing. It's stupid, everyone's stupid."

"Does that make us stupid too?" Ryou said softly, but Kaiba still caught it. "For wanting to join in their stupidity?" he added quietly as his gaze shifted from Kaiba towards the snow outside.

"…"

"It does, doesn't it?"

"…I take back what I thought of you, you DO annoy me like Yugi and his little friends do."

"I'm flattered that you once thought I was competent enough not to annoy you."

"Getting smug aren't you? Maybe I SHOULD have left you outside."

"You wouldn't do that…" with gentle smile Ryou faced his classmate and gave a mock look of hurt, "You wouldn't get any presents from Santa if you did." He joked, receiving an annoyed look from his fellow outcast.

"Hilarious, now keep walking or I'll lock you in that Girls' bathroom over there." the stoic teen spoke bluntly, gesturing towards the bathrooms at the right end of the hall.

Obliging, the limping Ryou quieted and continued walking lamely alongside his classmate until they finally reached the stairs and proceeded upstairs towards the third floor where the others were at.

* * *

The third floor was warm due to the heat generated by the heaters earlier that managed to sustain itself even without electricity, the emergency lights were all on and the halls were illuminated well enough for the two to see the far reaches of the corridors. The class was somewhere in this floor, in their classroom Kaiba recalled, all he had to do now was get Ryou there and have him taken care of, surely the school's nurse was there as well.

"Hey."

"What?"

"…I think you should go."

The pair paused as Kaiba stood still, "Like hell I will, do you really think you can get to the classroom alone? You can't even stand up straight without flinch-"

"That's not what I meant." interrupted the injured teen. Kaiba did not respond and let the interruption pass this once. After a few seconds of pause, Ryou continued, "I meant…I think you should go to a Ski resort this year…with Mokuba. It wouldn't be fair to ruin his Christmas just because you don't want to go."

"…"

"…Are you angry at me for saying that?" said Ryou, his voice soft yet firm.

"Surprisingly no, I'm not."

A pause from Ryou, "…so…are you going?" he asked, looking up at the two-faced CEO whom everyone regarded with fear and respect in contrast to the love and tenderness he was regarded with as an older brother by his younger brother.

"I'll give it more thought and consideration this year."

"Is that a 'yes'?"

"It's a big 'maybe'."

"Oh, ok then."

As the two continued to walk or in Ryou's case limp towards their destination, Kaiba broke the awkward silence that had risen from Ryou's recent inquisition, "Are you planning to stay with your little friends this Christmas?" he asked, the two of them once again stopping in the middle of the hallway to talk.

"No, I'm not."

"With your father then?"

"He's in HongKong for a conference, something about Chinese relics unearthed somewhere in Mongolia's borders. He won't be home till next August."

"Do you call him during Christmas?"

"It depends if he's reachable."

"Don't you know where he is at times?"

"Actually I know where goes off to, he informs me before going to another continent for a dig."

"Why not visit him?"

"Why the sudden interest Kaiba?" this question was meant for Kaiba whom Ryou noticed was beginning to sound like a reporter doing twenty questions.

Silence ensued.

Again they continued on their way until finally after a few minutes they were a few meters away from their classroom, having passed several other noisy classrooms housing the other students and teachers of the school. Somehow, the pair just stood there unmoving, seemingly hating the moment in which they were to enter that classroom to be bombarded by the sounds of other people and to go back to what ever dark corner or side of the room they separately belonged to.

Talking with each other had been, in a sense, fun and comforting, despite the fact that they were both freezing cold most of the time they conversed. Both had actually had a nice and decent, as well as intelligent conversation with one another. They secretly looked forward to the next time they could talk as they did, if that time would ever be granted to them once more.

Maybe, if they were lucky, there would be a typhoon or something in January…

…Like hell there'll be…Yugi would have to grow at least three inches on his own for that to happen.

"Hey."

"What now?" Kaiba replied, though not in the sense that he would sound irritated, instead he sounded as if he was questioning himself, 'What now? What next?' or the like.

"Let me ask you just one more thing before we go inside," right now, the two were standing in front of the sliding door separating them from the sense of content they had with each other's company from the ruthless world of socializing –or not- with others.

They could just turn back right?

Nah, Ryou needed a proper blanket and a hot drink.

"Ask then."

…

"What is Christmas to you?"

* * *

"Ryou!!! Moneybags!!! Where are you guys?!" Joey shouted, his voice echoing throughout the empty cafeteria where he, several teachers and his close friends were at, searching desperately for the two missing teens.

"Oh, where could they possibly be? I hope they're ok." Spoke Tea.

"Don't worry, I'm sure they'll be just fine Tea" Yugi reassured the female.

"The bastard's a cockroach, you've seen how he keeps on coming back duel after duel, he won't die…it's Ryou I'm worried about." said Joey.

"Ryou will be fine, he can take care of himself." Spoke Tristan.

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely Tea…let's just hope he's not stuck with Kaiba somewhere, otherwise, well…I can't guarantee his safety."

Outside, a patch of snow fell off a tree, drawing the search party's attention to it.

"They're outside! Oh my God! We've got to save them!" immediately after his 'heroic declamation', the gym teacher -the same guy who went outside and almost froze to death earlier- rushed towards the back door entrance, successfully locking himself out and causing more mayhem for the search party who were now desperately trying to open the backdoor to save him. Apparently, the doorknob was now busted.

And so began the 'gym teacher's fight for survival in the brutal snow…part two'.

* * *

"What is Christmas to you?"

…

"Well?" Ryou added, having received nothing but a strange look from his classmate, "It's a simple enough question."

Kaiba took the liberty of emerging himself in deep thought, speculating his views of the season and contemplating as to how he could best supply his answer.

"Well?" again, Ryou ushered for the second time.

"It's…" a pause, "…bearable.' He finished lamely.

Ryou blinked, "That's not a fair answer."

"Well, how about you? What is it to you?" Kaiba challenged, more out of curiosity than spite.

Ryou took a few moments to think then answered, "I'm not going to say that it's oh so very merry and jolly and all that because I'm basically not all that acquainted with it. I suppose, to me it's…"

"…It's what?"

"It's…bearable."

This time it was Kaiba's turn to blink, he would have, but he didn't, "And you said my answer wasn't fair, damn hypocrite."

"What I mean is…I guess it WOULD be nice to celebrate it like everyone else does, but…how can I? Dad's always away, friends spend their Christmas with their own families so I can't just tag along…I suppose…it's bearable…to watch others having all the fun, watching people happy with their gifts and stuff…is happiness for me in itself, I guess…to me, I suppose Christmas is a kiddy party with kiddy games wherein I'm too old to join…but I kinda enjoy watching the fun from the parents' table…I don't know how to say it…Christmas…is…bearable…that's all I've got."

They watched each other closely, never breaking eye contact and never backing down. Both had pretty much the same views on the season…it felt as if they had a mutual and direct understanding of it through each other's thoughts.

"It would be an insult to greet each other 'Merry Christmas' wouldn't it?" Kaiba was the first to speak.

Ryou then replied, "Yeah, it would…since we technically can't have the same 'Merriment' that other people have…"

"…"

"…"

"Have a bearable Christmas then…Ryou Bakura."

"Have a bearable Christmas too…Seto Kaiba."

With those simple greetings, they took one last look at each other before turning away and sliding the door open together. But they were both content as they headed for their separate places, they both were satiated…thinking the same thing: 'Someone finally gets it.'

* * *

Christmas vacation was now officially on, Ryou Bakura thought as he looked out the window of his modest apartment that morning. Yesterday had been the last time he would see his classmates for a while and today was the first day of his Winter break. He didn't really have anything planned and lately he'd been thinking of a lot of random stuff.

The gym teacher had been sent to the hospital for prolonged exposure to the cold, poor soul…

Yugi was spending quality time with his grandpa and family at the Kame Game shop…

Tristan was off with Joey, visiting the blonde's sister Serenity for Christmas…

Tea and her family were spending their vacation in Okinawa at an Aunt's house…

His father was in HongKong for the Mongolian relic conference…

Seto Kaiba…

…Was probably being bugged by an eager Mokuba to take a vacation at a Ski resort.

Ryou smiled at the thought of his classmate being pestered by the adorable Mokuba, who everyone knew, could be quite the insolent little devil boy with the trademark Kaiba smirk.

A knock on the door broke his trail of random thought. Quickly he tidied his ruffled hair from the mess it was when he first woke up, and made his way to the door to open it.

"Hn? What?" He spoke a little groggily as he stifled a yawn and blinked the sleep out of his eyes.

"Good morning to you too." A stoic voice spoke mockingly. Ryou looked up to find himself visited at eight in the morning by none other than the CEO of KaibaCorp, his personal savior and fellow Christmas critic, Seto Kaiba, accompanied by the younger Mokuba Kaiba.

"What are you-?" before Ryou could finish his question, he was tackled to the ground by an overly joyous Mokuba hugging the life out of him.

"Oh!!! Thank you. Thank you, thank you! For talking Seto into going on a Ski trip!" the young raven-haired sibling profusely thanked.

"Um…you're welcome?"

Another grin, "Well, hurry up and pack your stuff!" the boy exclaimed excitedly, practically bouncing up and down with energy.

"Eh?"

"We're going on a Ski trip." Kaiba spoke bluntly, "you're coming with us since it was your idea."

Blink. Blink. "But Kaiba…-" without delay, the two brothers made their way into Ryou's apartment.

"You know, I couldn't, I mean…well, the two of you should spend some quality time together and…"

"Oh come off it Ryou, big brother told me about how you're going to be all alone during Christmas vacation, so big brother and I thought of bringing you along since you DID convince him to go and Seto's cool with hanging with you."

"Unlike certain vermin that need no introduction." Kaiba added, referring to Yugi and the others. "Besides…" he took several steps closer towards Ryou until they were only three feet apart.

"You DO want to try having a 'Merry Christmas' right?" he said bluntly.

A smile made its way on the white-blonde's features, "As much as you do Kaiba."

"That settles it! Let's go!" with that, Mokuba grabbed hold of Ryou's arm and helped the teen locate his sweater and scarves and other stuff he would need for the trip, while Kaiba sat there on the sofa with his body guard by the door, watching his little brother and his classmate scurry all over the apartment room…

…Maybe Christmas wasn't so bad after all…

* * *

Necro: 12 pages people, all for you. I'm afraid this is all I can give for now. A one-shot for Christmas that's not even that good. REVIEW PLEASE. 


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